Category: Culture

Lessons learned from an Angolan church leader

I had the privilege of knowing a leader of the association of evangelicals in Angola about a decade ago.  He was willing to share honestly his perspective on church mission relationships. Unfortunately the lessons are are not unique to ministry in Angola.

He said, “Many times we give answers to problems of local churches without taking the time to find the questions. We come with prefabricated solutions.”

As people motivated by the gospel of Christ we can get too attached to the means without attention to the ends. When Jesus was asked “Who is my neighbor?” by the rich man seeking to justify himself, Jesus gave him the answer in story form. Jesus didn’t just supply an answer but took the time to address the real questions (e.g. ethnic and religious pride) behind the question.  We must communicate the Word of God not just by speaking (from our perspective) but by listening to the perspective of the ones we are serving (and then speaking).

He continued, “In building community we tend to see only social problems. But the basic problem of the world is spiritual, not social [our alienation from God]. We can’t transform hearts by only changing the environment.”

In the early days of missions our forefathers went to the rural areas and brought rural education. Literacy rates began improving.  But while rural education began to improve there was little effort to change the educational system by reaching business people or teachers in the cities.  In the end the church lacked trained people, people who could contextualize the gospel message for the local culture.  Core cultural assumptions were not touched and thus some ‘believers’ reverted to animism.  His own understanding as a young man was that if you fail in life, perhaps then you can become a pastor!

It is a beautiful thing to educate children. But if we tackle only education without discipling teachers we may have limited impact. We are not just in missions to change the environment (education, health care, justice issues) but to communicate the glory of God in Jesus Christ and His redemptive plan for men and women. This means transforming local leadership, by His grace, to continue to follow Christ and meet the social, spiritual and physical needs around them. As outsiders we must think about the whole picture not just our part.  As Jesus establishes His kingdom on earth He reaches whole people — bringing us out of bondage to sin and into new life, in order that we can be salt and light to others!

He also said, “The church is depending on missionaries for leadership and funds even to get recognition in the country.”

I believe that much progress has been made in this last decade or two by the Angolan believers, but how important it is that we ‘missionaries’ have a heart to develop and train local believers — allowing them to ‘increase’ while we ‘decrease.’ Not an easy job.  In fact it is impossible, given our own sinfulness. But, with God, all things are possible.  In fact Jesus has already promised, “I will build my church, and the gates (authority) of hell will not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:18

 

"Every Good Endeavor"

“Christians’ disengagement from popular culture usually carries over into dualism at work. “Dualism” is a term used to describe a separating wall between the sacred and the secular. it is a direct result of a thin view of sin, common grace, and God’s providential purposes.

“Dualism leads some to think that if their work is to please Christ, it must be done overtly in his name. They feel they have to write and perform art that explicitly mentions Jesus, or teach religious subjects in a Christian school; or that they must work in an organization in which all people are professing Christians. Or they must let everyone know that they lead Bible studies in the office in the morning before work hours. This kind of dualism comes both from a failure to see the panoramic scope of common grace and the subtle depths of human sin.  People with this view cannot see that work done by non-Christians always contains some degree of God’s common grace as well as the distortions of sin. And they cannot see that work done by Christians, even if it overtly names the name of Jesus, is also significantly distorted by sin.

“The opposite dualistic approach, however, is even more prevalent — and based on our experience, even more difficult to dismantle. In this approach, Christians think of themselves as Christians only within church activity. Their Christian life is what they do on Sundays and weeknights, when they engage in spiritual activities The rest of the week they have no ability to think circumspectly about the underlying values they are consuming and living out. In their life and work “out in the world,” they uncritically accept and reenact all of their culture’s underlying values and idolatries of self, surface appearances, technique, personal freedom, materialism, and other features of expressive individualism. While the first form of dualism fails to grasp the importance of what we have in common with the world, this form fails to grasp the importance of what is distinctive about the Christian worldview — namely, that the gospel reframes all things, not just religious things.

“The integration of faith and work is the opposite of dualism. We should be willing to be very engaged with the cultural and vocational worlds of non-Christians. Our thick view of sin will remind us that even explicitly Christian work and culture will always have some idolatrous discourse within it. Our thick view of common grace will remind us that even explicitly non-Christian work and culture will always have some witness to God’s truth in it. Because Christians are never as good as their right beliefs should make them, we will adopt a stance of critical enjoyment of human culture and its expressions in every field of work. We will learn to recognize the half-truths and resist the idols; and we will learn to recognize and celebrate the glimpses of justice, wisdom, truth, and beauty we find around us in all aspects of life. Ultimately, a grasp of the gospel and of biblical teaching on cultural engagement should lead Christians to be the most appreciative of the hand of God behind the work of our colleagues and neighbors.”

"Every Good Endeavor"

“Christians’ disengagement from popular culture usually carries over into dualism at work. “Dualism” is a term used to describe a separating wall between the sacred and the secular. it is a direct result of a thin view of sin, common grace, and God’s providential purposes.

“Dualism leads some to think that if their work is to please Christ, it must be done overtly in his name. They feel they have to write and perform art that explicitly mentions Jesus, or teach religious subjects in a Christian school; or that they must work in an organization in which all people are professing Christians. Or they must let everyone know that they lead Bible studies in the office in the morning before work hours. This kind of dualism comes both from a failure to see the panoramic scope of common grace and the subtle depths of human sin.  People with this view cannot see that work done by non-Christians always contains some degree of God’s common grace as well as the distortions of sin. And they cannot see that work done by Christians, even if it overtly names the name of Jesus, is also significantly distorted by sin.

“The opposite dualistic approach, however, is even more prevalent — and based on our experience, even more difficult to dismantle. In this approach, Christians think of themselves as Christians only within church activity. Their Christian life is what they do on Sundays and weeknights, when they engage in spiritual activities The rest of the week they have no ability to think circumspectly about the underlying values they are consuming and living out. In their life and work “out in the world,” they uncritically accept and reenact all of their culture’s underlying values and idolatries of self, surface appearances, technique, personal freedom, materialism, and other features of expressive individualism. While the first form of dualism fails to grasp the importance of what we have in common with the world, this form fails to grasp the importance of what is distinctive about the Christian worldview — namely, that the gospel reframes all things, not just religious things.

“The integration of faith and work is the opposite of dualism. We should be willing to be very engaged with the cultural and vocational worlds of non-Christians. Our thick view of sin will remind us that even explicitly Christian work and culture will always have some idolatrous discourse within it. Our thick view of common grace will remind us that even explicitly non-Christian work and culture will always have some witness to God’s truth in it. Because Christians are never as good as their right beliefs should make them, we will adopt a stance of critical enjoyment of human culture and its expressions in every field of work. We will learn to recognize the half-truths and resist the idols; and we will learn to recognize and celebrate the glimpses of justice, wisdom, truth, and beauty we find around us in all aspects of life. Ultimately, a grasp of the gospel and of biblical teaching on cultural engagement should lead Christians to be the most appreciative of the hand of God behind the work of our colleagues and neighbors.”

Are we losing our compassion?

CMF Compassion

When we reflect on the reasons to come alongside those who are hurting physically and serve them around the world, compassion must be the #1 reason. It was the foundation of the early church’s response to human suffering around them, even before medical care became more professional.  The prophet Malachi exhorts God’s people to “do justice, love mercy and walk humbly before our God.” So are we in danger of losing our compassion?

This article in the Christian Medical Fellowship journal by Richard Vincent says there is good evidence that we are losing our compassion. Over 17,000 scholarly publications have appeared investigating the loss of compassion around the world.  A 2014 report in the UK brought the failure of compassionate care “into sharp public focus.”

We are tempted to think of compassion as something subjective, or perhaps not quite as real as observable facts like blood pressure and screening blood tests. Compassion has BOTH a subjective and objective element. It is not just what we feel, but what we do about coming alongside others in their suffering.

Vincent shows how the parable of the Good Samaritan paints a picture of compassionate care, showing its main components: attentiveness, empathy and action. See Luke 10:30-35.

Attentiveness means “choosing to give someone your undivided attention.” Wow, this is huge. Rather than focusing on my workload, I choose to give attention to someone in their suffering. This is from the heart of God. And not just attentiveness but empathy. The sense of what it would be like to be in the other person’s position. “Jesus identified with the harassed and helpless.. prompting Him to weep.”  Empathy establishes a connection with the patient and is quickly appreciated, he says.  It will take some time and energy of our own body, mind and spirit. Yet can we truly practice Christ-like medicine without it?

Why the loss of compassion?  “The focus on materialistic science is strong in both medical education and clinical practice.  An interest in mechanisms, measurements, and data predominates, leading patients to be seen as cases rather than as persons, an attitude that may be reinforced by clinical teachers.” He suggests some helpful ways to return to compassion as Christian healthcare providers.

I may diagnose and treat with competency and cleverness, but if I have not love, it is just like a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  (see 1 Corinthians 13).

We certainly want to be good healthcare providers and use the training to care for others well; let’s not let our profession squeeze us into a mold which is not shaped by compassion.  How do you find ways — little or big — to show compassion?  Your small efforts may encourage all of us.

 

How should we do justice?

I’ve mentioned Tim Keller’s “Generous Justice” before. Today I’d like to underline a practical and theological issue about “how.”  Keller tells us about Abraham Kuyper, a Dutch theologian and statesman who ‘remade the churches into voluntary institutions’ in Holland over a century ago.  According to Kuyper, the church was both and organism and an institution (See Kuyper’s work “Rooted and Grounded — the church as organism and institution.)  God has designed the church to be like a body (organic, rooted) and house (institutional, grounded on a foundation).  It needs solid outer shape but it must have inner life.  The church not only grows, but it is also built with structure.

Keller says that Kuyper distinguishes the congregation meeting under its leaders as the institutional church, and “all Christians, functioning in the world as individuals and through various agencies and voluntary organizations,” as the organic church (“Generous Justice,” page 145).

Keller continues, “As we have said, churches under their leaders should definitely carry out ministries of relief and some development among their own members and in their neighborhoods and cities, as the natural and crucial way to show the world God’s character, and to love the people they are evangelizing and discipling. But if we apply Kuyper’s view, then when we get to the more ambitious work of social reform and the addressing of social structure, believers should work through associations and organizations rather than through the local church.  While the institutional church should do relief inside and around its community, the ‘organic’ church should be doing development and social reform.”

He goes on to say that many of the churches that practice this sort of model of ministry (of the sort championed by John Perkins) form community development organizations, distinct from their congregations, to operate programs in their community. Otherwise the work of community renew and social justice can easily overwhelm the work of building up the church by evangelism and discipleship.

Mission organizations plant churches and disciple individuals and can be well suited to do ‘organic’ type ministries of justice and social transformation. However, mission organizations are specialized in seed sowing and building foundations, not in the ongoing work of the ministry — which must increasingly fit the local context with local leadership.  So just as we plant churches in various places, we have a vision to plant local mission organizations that can glorify Christ and address issues of justice and social needs.

Would you be happy to join with a view to this sort of gospel-centered mission to serve in the area of justice and social transformation?

Medical Missions, an assessment by a historian

Sent to Heal by Christoffer H Grundmann
Sent to Heal by Christoffer H Grundmann

Christoffer Grundmann writes, “Most nineteenth-century people, medics and theologians alike, paid little, if any attention to medical missions — even if they were addressing mission. And when they did, they almost always did so in very limited confines, leaving their discussions to circles of experts. This isolation made it even more difficult for any general discussion of the subject to be carried on. At the same time, this indicates that medical missions hardly – if ever – succeeded in formulating and communicating the rationale for their work in such a way that others could fully understand them. Thus their potential impact on theology, medicine, intercultural dialogue, and dialogue between science and religion was considerably hampered by this inability (on the part of most of them) to engage in adequate reflection on the subject. This might simply have been the cost of their enormous day-to-day demands of the work itself, which consumed their energies…

“From the outset, however, medical missionaries were compelled to validate their work in the face of the common assumption that only those who preached and taught the gospel explicitly were real ‘missionaries.’ It was not surprising then, that medical missionaries tended to defend their work somewhat apologetically.”

Without adequately reflecting on medical missions, how do we expect to engage the next generation in the amazing opportunities God has put before us to bring healing to the nations?  Our physical bodies were made by God and declared “good,” although distorted by sin from God’s original design.  We need plenty of people to adequately reflect on this subject.  That’s why I am writing this blog!  It is my intention to stimulate you to think about the needs of this world from God’s perspective, and get involved.  Physical and spiritual needs were all of concern to Jesus as he walked this earth.  The foundation of all healing is the work He did on the cross, bridging the divide between heaven and earth.  But his work is not done only by addressing the heart need of man; He is also a God who cares about physical suffering, justice, and manifold other mental, relational and spiritual needs.  Let’s not be so busy we cannot talk together and help one another accomplish what is good.

Highlights shared by SIM medical missionaries

We have 250 medical professionals serving in SIM. We recently surveyed some of them.  We asked each one to share a highlight of their ministry. Here are some of their responses.  One bullet point per person:

  • The opportunity to develop relationships with Muslims as patients, staff and colleagues
  • Working with vesicovaginal fistula patients (VVF). The majority of our work is in this area, and we are seeing huge life changes as well as large numbers of people choosing to place their faith in Christ through VVF ministries as well.  A close second – working with the family practice residents (all nationals)
  • Proclaiming the gospel as the Spirit enables
  • Discipling men that have initially resisted studying the Bible, but later study it voraciously
  • Meeting desperate physical needs, training interns, and the joy of caring for patients.  Answers to prayer by the Lord sending a doctor who spends part of his time doing rural medicine outreach in areas of the country where there has been no gospel witness (using the hospital as a base)
  • The impact I can make here, compared to what it would be in the U.S.  To see individual lives touched each week; to see the sickest of the HIV and TB patients receive compassionate care and actually survive.  To see a wider impact that we can have in the area together with the Ministry of Health.  To see the institution built up; it is a unique privilege and joy to see every piece of the puzzle as it comes together, to know the story of each item supplied, the input of each individual/church/organization, and so on (the reward of effective leadership in administration)
  • Enjoyed working with the kids ministry
  • That we were able to go to a closed area of this country (highly secure country); and that they are known as Christians who show compassion.  That we can have a significant impact on health education among local doctors.  That we can create avenues for ministry among local believers
  • We are excited to see how the younger generation of church leadership is responding to the AIDS teaching, applying it and seeing people’s lives transformed. At an HIV camp they see how the truth of God’s word gives them a future and a hope.  Also they are surprised how palliative care has opened doors to sharing Christ
  • It is a joy to help dental students get a better level of training as well as discipling them or leading them to Christ. It is also a blessing to work side by side with Bible translation team and see God’s word changing lives and strengthening the church. The work of the mission hospital has given improved dental health of the young people, especially children, who are taught about dental hygiene early
  • To see the replication of the dental training, not only the medical teaching but the spiritual.
  • Enjoyed the team dynamics
  • In the beginning it was a highlight taking care of patients; now I am more in an administrative role and the highlight is working closely with two Nigerians who are mentors to me.  Loved the six months of teaching I did with the nursing staff
  • Although I am not now on the field, many of the graduates I trained are now serving the poor and being Christ to those who do not yet know HIM.  Even one man who was not a believer spends one day a week doing a clinic where he is not paid
  • Direct patient care and teaching
  • Openness and willingness of patients to hear the gospel. Growth and development of staff
  • Developing relationships with hospital staff
  • One of the big highlights is to have been in the same place for 35 years and have relationships with people over a long time.  I have been able to follow some people through many stages of their lives.  As a doctor it is a highlight when you can come into someone’s life and connect with them and make Christ real to them. It has been rewarding to see how much has changed in many areas: AIDS epidemic, malnutrition, malaria, measles and many other diseases have improved with medical care and education. Lately I have been much more aware of the need to share Christ.
  • Sharing the gospel in our particular context of medical mission. It’s neat working in a situation where that is possible, working in conjunction with local evangelists. Lots of natural opportunity to do this.  Another highlight is seeing sick folks get better through your intervention (and by contrast a low light is seeing folks die in spite of — or even worse — because of your intervention!)

Do you see why we have joy in medical missions?

Paul

The Cape Town Commitment of faith and call to action – – the mission of God

Cape Town Commitment

Here is a rich description of the mission which God calls us to as believers, expressed in the words of the Lausanne commitment at Cape Town, South Africa

This is section 10 of that commitment word for word. It is an exciting and joyous mission. How are you involved?

We love the mission of God

We are committed to world mission, because it is central to our understanding of God, the Bible, the Church, human history and the ultimate future. The whole Bible reveals the mission of God to bring all things in heaven and earth into unity under Christ, reconciling them through the blood of his cross. In fulfilling his mission, God will transform the creation broken by sin and evil into the new creation in which there is no more sin or curse. God will fulfil his promise to Abraham to bless all nations on the earth, through the gospel of Jesus, the Messiah, the seed of Abraham. God will transform the fractured world of nations that are scattered under the judgment of God into the new humanity that will be redeemed by the blood of Christ from every tribe, nation, people and language, and will be gathered to worship our God and Saviour. God will destroy the reign of death, corruption and violence when Christ returns to establish his eternal reign of life, justice and peace. Then God, Immanuel, will dwell with us, and the kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign for ever and ever.[53]

A) Our participation in God’s mission. God calls his people to share his mission. The Church from all nations stands in continuity through the Messiah Jesus with God’s people in the Old Testament. With them we have been called through Abraham and commissioned to be a blessing and a light to the nations. With them, we are to be shaped and taught through the law and the prophets to be a community of holiness, compassion and justice in a world of sin and suffering. We have been redeemed through the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and empowered by the Holy Spirit to bear witness to what God has done in Christ. The Church exists to worship and glorify God for all eternity and to participate in the transforming mission of God within history. Our mission is wholly derived from God’s mission, addresses the whole of God’s creation, and is grounded at its centre in the redeeming victory of the cross. This is the people to whom we belong, whose faith we confess and whose mission we share.

B) The integrity of our mission. The source of all our mission is what God has done in Christ for the redemption of the whole world, as revealed in the Bible. Our evangelistic task is to make that good news known to all nations. The context of all our mission is the world in which we live, the world of sin, suffering, injustice, and creational disorder, into which God sends us to love and serve for Christ’s sake. All our mission must therefore reflect the integration of evangelism and committed engagement in the world, both being ordered and driven by the whole biblical revelation of the gospel of God.

‘Evangelism itself is the proclamation of the historical, biblical Christ as Saviour and Lord, with a view to persuading people to come to him personally and so be reconciled to God…The results of evangelism include obedience to Christ, incorporation into his Church and responsible service in the world… We affirm that evangelism and socio-political involvement are both part of our Christian duty. For both are necessary expressions of our doctrines of God and humankind, our love for our neighbour and our obedience to Jesus Christ…The salvation we proclaim should be transforming us in the totality of our personal and social responsibilities. Faith without works is dead.’[54]

‘Integral mission is the proclamation and demonstration of the gospel. It is not simply that evangelism and social involvement are to be done alongside each other. Rather, in integral mission our proclamation has social consequences as we call people to love and repentance in all areas of life. And our social involvement has evangelistic consequences as we bear witness to the transforming grace of Jesus Christ. If we ignore the world, we betray the Word of God which sends us out to serve the world. If we ignore the Word of God, we have nothing to bring to the world.’[55]

We commit ourselves to the integral and dynamic exercise of all dimensions of mission to which God calls his Church.

God commands us to make known to all nations the truth of God’s revelation and the gospel of God’s saving grace through Jesus Christ, calling all people to repentance, faith, baptism and obedient discipleship.
God commands us to reflect his own character through compassionate care for the needy, and to demonstrate the values and the power of the kingdom of God in striving for justice and peace and in caring for God’s creation.
In response to God’s boundless love for us in Christ, and out of our overflowing love for him, we rededicate ourselves, with the help of the Holy Spirit, fully to obey all that God commands, with self-denying humility, joy and courage. We renew this covenant with the Lord – the Lord we love because he first loved us.

 

Racial Reconciliation

Tim Keller wrote “Generous Justice” in 2010. He speaks there about John Perkins’ strategy for rebuilding poor communities (Perkins has been a leader in community development and racial reconciliation for many years in the USA). I think the principle he articulates from John Perkins is so important for a vital, cross cultural, gospel-shaped ministry of healing.  Keller writes, “In both private charity and government agencies, many of the providers are of a different race than the care receivers. While Perkins insisted that leadership for development be based in poor communities, he also ‘invited outsiders [usually Anglo] to play a critical role in fostering indigenous leadership.’  He did this while many civil rights organizations ‘often radicalized and politicized the role of the outsider at the expense of people in poor communities.’

“These two factors — inviting outsiders to play a role along with insisting that the residents of poor communities be empowered to control their own destiny — meant that the leadership for the community development had to be multi-ethnic and interracial. It is always much easier for the leaders to be of one race — whether just indigenous members of the community or only professional helpers from outside the neighborhood.  But Perkins knew that the combination, if it could be made to work, was powerful. This was one of Perkins’s most important contributions and challenges.  What is best for the poor community — a non-paternalistic partnership of people from different races and social locations — was also one of the gifts that the gospel makes possible.”

Keller goes on to explain how the Bible provides ‘deep resources for racial rapprochement,’ since the depiction of creation cuts the nerve of racism — as all human beings are made of ‘one blood.’  “Why did God create only one human being?  So that no one can say to a fellow human being: My father was better than yours.” Racism has its roots in the pride and lust for power that arose from man’s sinful attempt to raise the tower of Babel (Genesis 11). And it has its healing in the cross of Christ, with the resultant outpouring of the Holy Spirit to break down the barriers that divide the nations (see the account of Pentecost in Acts 2).

So again we find that a gospel ministry to the brokenhearted is led by a team that is multi-racial and multi-cultural — by grace allowing the gifts of the body to be expressed — and showing the love of Christ to the world.

Sustainability

SustainabilityThere is much good talk and fine-sounding theory about sustainability and sustainable development these days.  When I first went to Ethiopia and did community health, I thought that my work should continue beyond my time, without outside financial input.  It was a noble-sounding idea; I didn’t want to create financial dependency but rather wanted to see long-term productive service or ministry.

I would like however to suggest that we might think more deeply about sustainability.  Not to throw away the concept, but to make it deeper, and root it more in the character of God and His kingdom.

Wikipedia defines sustainability this way: “In ecology, sustainability is how biological systems remain diverse and productive. Long-lived and healthy wetlands and forests are examples of sustainable biological systems. In more general terms, sustainability is the endurance of systems and processes.”

So first we need to recognize that sustainability is about the endurance of systems of processes.  For something to endure it has to have continuous input of resources; a plant for example needs sun, water and good soil.  Sustainability is not about my financial resources; it is rather a question about how the system/ministry/project/organization/church will continue to endure and produce fruit beyond my personal involvement.  My most important contribution may not be the money, but resources, skills, attitudes that are far less tangible than money.

The community health project that I did in southern Ethiopia in the late 80’s was not sustainable, i.e. it did not continue after I left. However the individuals that I was able to influence — that Jesus transformed — in the process of trying to do the project, they became the key to sustainability.  Today there are many effective community health efforts there, combining the Word of God with the good works of Jesus.  They are certainly not all from my wife and I!  But by His grace I was able to plant some seeds.  The Good farmer was able to grow up those seeds into a much stronger crop than I could ever have dreamed of.

In writing to Timothy, Paul wrote “But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” (1 Tim 1:5).  Our aim is not just to sustain our work so that it might continue, but to that our work (and instruction) will grow up into a harvest of love.  This means that the heart matters, not just our acts.  To work along with the Holy Spirit and work in the Kingdom of God — the servant of the Lord must also attend to his or her conscience and keep the heart pure. This is only possible by the tremendous power of the gospel, not by finances.

To be sure, the way we handle finances is important!  When things go well and a project or system continues beyond my involvement, finances and resources will still be needed — and we should prepare leaders to take things to the next level (and it may mean we need to continue to put in finances!) Yet money should not be the root issue.  At the root is the character and promises of God, and the character and behavior of the leadership we have mentored or left in place.

Ultimately God is the one who produces the good fruit of righteousness and joy; we read in the previous verse that ‘the administration of God is by faith.” (1 Tim 1:4).

The good news is this. We are not just talking about a machine which we want to keep running. We are talking about something organic, productive, and multiplying fruit. Our aim should be on growth and transformation – whether we are putting in money or not. Our model needs to be less mechanical and more organic; “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.” (Matt 13:33)

The way we go about our health and development work makes all the difference.

Sometimes the thing we want to ‘produce’ can’t even be produced, and our efforts seem to die away.  But the way we go about it, even if our dreams seem to die, can yield fruit if we are working along with the Lord Jesus Christ, keeping to a good conscience and a pure heart by grace.  Don’t be overly discouraged if you don’t seem to have something ‘sustainable.’  Look deeper for seeds that you can plant in others’ lives that can grow up — even long after you may be gone.

Sometimes the thing we want to ‘produce’ can only be produced when led by local believers or the local community, and our job is to come alongside them (partner) and help prepare them for these leadership roles, as servants with a good conscience and hearts of love.

In the end the deepest things are not materials or economics, but love from a pure heart. And if you have not found out where to get these things, look to the good news of God in Jesus.

Where do you struggle with sustainability and might these simple ideas offer some hope?